Sulle ali dell'onore

When I first saw the teaser trailer for this film I was extremely excited the history and war film buff in me jumped with joy, "finally a Korean war film" alas it is no 1917 or Dunkirk.

While this film offers some great visuals and solid performances from the entire cast it unfortunately never gripped me in any real emotional way. The two actors Johnathan Majors as Jesse Brown and Glen Powel as Tom Hudner both have great chemistry and their relationship is played out well but even with the amount of time they gave to both these characters I just couldn't seem to get attached.

This is also less a film about the Korean war and more about the relationship between these two pilots who fought in the war. Yet whatever the true history is between the two pilots and however many missions they flew together the film never felt to connect them as true brothers of war as I feel they were intended to be. This film contains all of two battle scenes, in a war film? That seems low.

After all this time being excited for this film I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. They had a great opportunity here to depict the Korean war as well as the story between these two pilots but perhaps with better direction, better pacing, and better storytelling this could've been a stronger film. I also feel my fellow audience members were a bit disappointed as well, some checked their phones multiple times and I'm pretty sure I saw someone leave early.

Oh well, it's not terrible but it's far from great. I wonder what Korean war vets, if they go out and see this film would think.

IMDb: 6/10 Letterboxd: 3/5

Watched in Theaters.

This movie is about war and love. It is about struggle and victory. And above all else, it is above racism and brotherhood. And the latter doesn't only come from same coloured brothers, but from two wingmans that are black and white.

After the hugely successful second installment of "Top Gun", Paramount treats us with another excellent aviator movie. This time it is not about modern jet powered fighter planes, but instead it is 1950's piston driven aircraft that fight in the Korean war. This where they are even faced against hard-to-battle MiG jet aircraft that have vastly superior flight characteristics.

Above all, this movie is about the struggles of a black aviator. Like a MiG, this man is vastly superior in flying planes. But we see him struggle - as a pilot - not only with his upbringing in a racial America, but also with the racial tensions that still exist in 1950's America: specifically in the military.

And last but not least, this movie is about the inhumane struggles of the military ground troops in the 'hell on earth' of the ground warfare in Korea.

Rich with stunning visual detail and effects, this movie makes one remind of such blockbuster movies like "Pearl Harbor". Combine that with the excellent "Men of Honor", and you have the inspirational ingredients that I found back in "Devotion". And with its relative long length for a feature movie - around 130 minutes - it is by no means too long. The events in the movie developed in such a pace, whereby there is a good mix of action and drama, that the movie is over before you know it. When one comes to think of it, this movie could have easily been extended with some additional content - e.g. From flight school - which could have resulted in a 4-part mini-series.

And let's not forget that this is all based on true events, which gives it all a special dimension.

Overall, this movie deserves a rating of 7.6/10, thereby resulting in an IMDb score of 8 stars. A special note is to be made of Paramount, whom is clearly producing some very excellent (best-in-class) movies/shows since the second half of 2022, whereby this specific movie is rated in january 2023.

LIKES

Setting

• Brings you back to history and establishes the historical feel

-The houses, the cars, and the culture are all embedded in various shots that should be nostalgic -Loved the feel of the shots and how they captured the culture without getting lost -The naval set may not have been explored, but the parts they did feel much like Pearl Harbor, very ingrained and focused on the stressful platform they are on.

• The European setting did this the best for me, especially the casino scene for the look of the times

Wardrobe -Helps further establish the mood and bring you back to the past -Functional, good looking, and almost acts as an extension of the character -Very calmed down for the most part, and only gets fancy for the right scenes, again establishing the emotion of the film.

-Makeup goes well to accent without going into the complex makeup Hollywood can do.

The Action To An Extent -The scenes are awesome and don't get too violent , helping to curb to both -Great special effects that bring both audio and visual components to the mix that make it theater worthy.

-Feels like a real mission, with cutting through the fat and setting up the parameters making the mission even more fun to watch -You can hear the conversation and not lost to the chaos of the moment -A little diverse and capable of helping you easily follow what's going on and fit quite well for the tone of the movie.

The Acting -Most of the extras are fun to watch, and they are mainly comedic or very stoic to make the point across. All of the roles have good chemistry and work for the movie.

-Jackson is the character I really wanted to see a little more of. She was a strong woman that was realistic, balanced, and fun serving as an anchor to the military feel.

-Jackson has some of the best moments and dialogue of the movie, and really does a nice job with the time she has on screen for establishing the family dynamic.

-Powell's performance is even more dynamic than his Top Gun days. He plays these pilot roles quite well, keeps the tough guy component in, but somehow makes the character more dynamic.

-Handled the dramatic dialogue super well, but yet conveyed other emotions. By far the most balanced of the actors for the emotional spectrum.

-That ending is a fantastic display of his range of acting -Majors knows how to play strong roles and he continues that streak with this stoic, focused, and determined pilot role.

-And yet, those vulnerable moments show just how much he has the emotion down, which makes for a great variety of qualities to that character. He plays the pilot real, and does not tread down the invincible superhero that these roles tend to be.

The Music -Symphony scores are the keys to this movie for musical spectacle, worthy of the theater visit.

-Loud instrumental pieces add to the action scenes and give that gallant approach that helps immerse you into the moment and get your adrenaline up.

-Other instrumental works are about capturing the fun times, adding the jazz feel to the party scenes, and the vibrant party tunes for just enjoying life.

-The end moments are that emotional kick you need to appreciate the entire chemistry between everyone, and the inspirational tale that Brown's story is.

The Better Balance: -Deals with the racism component with class and focus and does not rob the movie of the other qualities.

-Drops that component as part of the story and uses it for fuel to paint the characters in the way they needed to be painted.

-Loved the dialogue with this tale and how they did not let it get away from them and again made it natural.

-By taking this approach, we really got the multiple perspectives down that he might have experienced during his time in the Korean War. A true showing of his respectful character.

DISLIKES:

The Other Characters Are Inconsistent -Many characters don't get the screen time they needed to do them justice.

-Much of the other cast runs together and is difficult to tell one from the other or really make them stand out from each other.

-I wanted more interactions with the group and individual personality building with these other teammates.

-Was not connected to most of the rest of these characters, making the group effort a bit weaker

Some Parts Feel Rushed -Training felt very montage like and did not feel the purpose I wanted -Several big moments were over in a flash, which sort of dulled the emotional impact of the moments at time, or at least diluted them.

-Some things felt left out, cut out, and had the editing feel more than others, again giving us highlights of the time instead of the full story they were trying to tell.

-This was especially true for character interactions and development moments that make things feel a bit cheaper to the story that he may have had.

Predictable Foreshadowing -Painfully predictable dialogue really lays out the ending that is to come and just what will happen -The shots kind of give away when something bad is going to happen -The dialogue seems to point you to the way that the "surprise" is going to take place, which of course make it less of a surprise and therefore not as special for me.

More Action Needed -The action may be in taste to the tone of the movie, but it's also rather short-lived and simplified.

-Pearl Harbor had a lot of great magic and dynamic moments to really add that exciting factor, while this one took a more realistic tone and cut straight to the mission.

-The music helps, but it's missing the engaging pilot action that other films do so much better, which takes you a little out of the action.

-The other members are kind of after thoughts, and this leads to again less character usage and integration further making their inclusion less impactful.

-Needed to be longer and more exciting to really live up to the promise of the trailers that pulled me into the movie.

The VERDICT: Devotion is a true marriage of history, drama, and action to the point of captivating the realistic recreation of the events of that time. The special effects and setting are the machines used to take us back in time and establish the culture to help get you into the moment. While the acting performances are the emotional sword wielded to help pull the weight of Brown's achievements on you and craft characters you care about and wish to follow. With sound editing and a musical track pulling a fair amount of weight to help pick up the slack. However, this movie does struggle with the rushed pace of the runtime in a movie and that may be the biggest mistake of the movie for me in terms of not reaching the full potential. Characters are not consistently integrated, to the point I did not need to see them, while foreshadowing sort of blunts the surprise of what might happen to our band of pilots. My biggest let down is the action of the movie. While not the worst action scenes in a war movie, the battles aren't as long or as wow factor as other films have done. Pearl Harbor set the stage for those kinds of scenes and adding that movie magic might have saved face. Overall, Devotion might have done better as a mini-series to help give Brown's story more time to shine and explore the comradery of the group.

My scores are:

Action/Drama/War: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.5.

Two very powerful performances - surprised that Jonathan Majors is not a big awards season player at the moment -, a compelling story that is never lame, really good action, and, above all, a film full of heart.

It's not a perfect film. The 2nd act is a bit slow and it could have tried to create a bit more tension adding some new elements in preparation for the battle. However, it felt very real and I was so into this story and these characters that I was always enjoying. The third act is fascinating and I can't lie: it broke me into tears. I didn't know the real story, and had no contact with the material, so it was really shocking and impactful.

I'm surprised that this didn't click with a lot of people but I have my suspicions that is because it came this year, so, many people tend to compare it with an action blockbuster called Top Gun: Maverick, while this is a totally different movie. Great war drama.

Devotion is paced like a documentary rather than a feature narrative film. The plot doesn't have an inciting incident, nor is there really any driving force to give the story purpose. It isn't a plot so much as a portrait of characters who happened to be involved in the Korean War.

It isn't until about halfway through the film that any action is seen, and in the meantime we get a LOT of downtime to examine the relationships between Jesse and his family/Jesse and his aviators.

These sequences are very often touching and compelling, providing profoundly satisfying insights into the dichotomy of loneliness and brotherhood that war offers. This-along with the film's excellent acting, capable visual direction, and moving musical score-makes Devotion a frequently captivating experience.

But because the story doesn't have a sense of momentum and cause/effect between sequences, it's far more forgettable than the filmmakers wished for it to be.